Typically, people use public transport for traveling to their desired locations. The public transport is usually utilized by passengers for reaching various locations. Examples of the public transport include a school bus, an employee pick-up bus, and other similar modes of public transport. The public transport may also be referred to as a vehicle. Normally, the public transport follows a predefined route and halts at the various locations that lie along the route. The various locations are passenger pick-up locations and passenger drop-off locations to pick and drop passengers availing the public transport.
Generally, the passengers availing the public transport are notified by way of a predetermined written schedule, for example, of designated times at which the public transport is expected to arrive at their pick-up locations. Accordingly, a passenger may prepare in advance to reach a pick-up location from his home at a designated time. Sometimes, the passenger may reach the pick-up location earlier than the designated time. In some cases, the passenger may reach the pick-up location on time, but, the public transport may reach later than the designated time. This may happen due to a variety of reasons, such as break-down of the public transport, traffic congestion on the route, and the like. To avoid unnecessary waiting, the passenger may prefer to reach the pick-up location at substantially the same time as, or just after, the arrival of the public transport. In some cases, the passenger may also get delayed in reaching the pick-up location due to certain circumstances. In such cases, a driver or a conductor of the public transport may sound a horn to alert the passenger that the public transport has arrived at the pick-up location.
In another method known in the art, a calculation is done to estimate time that the public transport will take to reach the pick-up location and the estimated time is dynamically updated as the public transport approaches the pick-up location. Accordingly, the passenger is informed of the estimated time. In yet another technique known in the art, the passenger and the public transport may communicate through a common network. The passenger may get information related to current location of the public transport and the estimated time to reach the pick-up location.
However, the methods as described above suffer from a few drawbacks. In some methods, the passenger may need to wait for a long duration for the public transport to arrive. However, waiting for the public transport to arrive may pose a risk for the passenger. The risk may exist due to harsh weather conditions, heavy traffic at the pick-up location, secluded pick-up location, and the like. In other commonly followed practices, the passenger prefers to arrive after the vehicle has arrived at the pick-up location. However, in such a case, the driver or the conductor of the public transport resorts to sounding the horn to alert the passenger of the arrival of the public transport. This may cause discomfort to people who may reside in a neighborhood of the pick-up location. Further, peace and tranquility of the neighborhood may be disturbed by noise of the horn. In addition, passengers who are seated in the public transport need to wait for the passenger to arrive at the pick-up location and board the public transport.
Furthermore, other methods involving communication between the passengers and the public transport require a substantial amount of investment in infrastructure for the techniques to work properly, thereby increasing cost of the techniques. Moreover, the techniques may be complicated to use.
In light of the drawbacks mentioned above, there is a need for alerting a passenger of arrival of a public transport at a pick-up location. Further, there exists a need to reduce a time spent by a passenger waiting at a pick-up location for a public transport to arrive. Moreover, there is a need to reduce a time spent by passengers seated in a public transport waiting for a passenger to board the public transport at a pick-up location. Furthermore, there exists a need for alerting a user of arrival of a public transport in a cost-effective and user friendly manner.